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The Comparison between Chinese Translation and Japanese Translation of Virginia Woolf’s Works

Author: LiZuoZuo
Tutor: HaoLin
School: Shanxi University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Virginia Woolf Translation Manipulation Theory China Japan
CLC: I046
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 30
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Abstract

Being one of the most significant western Modernist writers introduced to the eastern world in the early 20tn century, Virginia Woolf, with her distinctive experimental writing technique and unique narration style, has attracted many an Asian translator and researcher. As two leading translation countries in the east, both China and Japan have boasted a nearly-one-century research on the translation of Virginia Woolf’s works, exhibiting the characteristics common to both and peculiar to each, which also deserves the attention of the translators and researchers interested in Virginia Woolf and her works alike.Based on the overview of Chinese and Japanese translation of Virginia Woolf’s works, the thesis drawing upon Manipulation Theory proposed by Andre Lefevere conducts an analysis of the temporal characteristics of Woolf’s translation in China and Japan and elaborates on Poetics, Patronage and Ideology manipulation imposed on the translating practice which reflects the similarities and differences of Chinese and Japanese translation of Virginia Woolf’s works in terms of history, culture, society and development pattern, etc.The thesis is composed of four parts, i.e. introduction, main body, conclusion and appendixes. The introductory part presents a literature review of the scholarship of the translation of Woolf’s works around the world generally, in China and Japan respectively and proposes the significance of the thesis. The main body of the thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One makes a brief introduction to the translation history in China and Japan and their communication in the process of translation. The following two chapters expound on the diachronic characteristics of the translation of Woolf’s works in China and Japan respectively on the basis of comprehensive collection of the Chinese and Japanese translations of Woolf’s works. Chapter Four makes a general introduction to the backgrounds and contents of Manipulation Theory propose by Lefevere and reveals the influences on the translation of Virginia Woolf’s works in China and Japan imposed by such elements as literary tradition, translation organizations and publishing houses which respectively coorespond to the factors of Poetics, Patronage and Ideology factors proposed by Manipulation Theory. The concluding part reviews the relations between China and Japan in the process of translating Woolf’s works and points out the problem the thesis fails to resolve, and is expected to be further expounded by other researchers. The appendixes at the end of the thesis, in the form of tables, offer the lists of the Chinese and Japanese translations of Woolf’s works.The translation histories of Western literature in China and Japan have been closely related to each other for thousands of years, and the translation of Virginia Woolf is a case in point. On the other hand, different social backgrounds, development patterns and ideologies in China and Japan bring about different characteristics of Woolf’s Chinese and Japanese translations. It is through continuous communications, setbacks and endeavors that China and Japan the two of the most important countries in the east expand their horizons to the west and make remarkable progress which is both starting point and research significance of the thesis.

The Comparison between Chinese Translation and Japanese Translation of Virginia Woolf’s Works

Abstract

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